Wine? Wine not!

Species name: Vitis riparia

Common name: riverbank grape

Location: Western University campus

The riverbank grape is one of our great native vine species (the other major native eastern North American species to be featured in the next blog, Virginia creeper). It is a very vigorous grower, capable of growing up to the top of a riparian forest tree canopy (not nearly as tall as a "normal" tree canopy of a forest, since trees that live in riparian, or riverbank, areas don't tend to be able to grow as tall). In the southern areas of its native range it can be a real pest species, but here in Ontario other native species are pretty good at competing with it. Some trees have a harder time than others, but non-native species have an especially difficult time with the smothering tendencies this species sometimes has. That being said, as soon as it is transplanted, either naturally via bird poop (the most common animal vector) or "artificially" via human transplantation, into an area of lowland or upland forest the forest canopy can really suffer as a result. It is remarkably good at smothering new saplings before they have a chance to grow tall enough to escape it, and some forests are so thick with grape vines they're impassable. A great example of a species that grows well in harmony with other species in its native habitat, but can become a real pest, even in its native range, if introduced beyond those limits.

The riverbank grape has a bit of a bad rap in Ontario and the northeastern United States, but that perception seems to be changing a bit. In the 1940s and 1950s, the US government (the Canadian government quickly followed suit) decided that riverbank grape vines were a forest pest and that this species should be eradicated. There had been a lot of accidental introductions of this species into areas important in the logging and lumber trade, and if you're allowing a vine to smother your profits you're not a very good businessperson! So instead of just local eradication programs, these programs were carried out across the United States and into Ontario and Quebec, and whenever a riverbank grape vine was seen in a forest (either riparian area or otherwise) it was sprayed with very toxic herbicides. This was very effective at killing the vines, but also equally effective in killing all of the surrounding vegetation and poisoning the soil (both for soil microbes, very important in forest health, but also making it inhospitable to new seedlings). Unfortunately, it was far too late before anyone realized what was happening, so you still find "dead zones" where mature trees escaped the soil poisoning by having a root system vast enough to support itself with un-poisoned soil, but the understory species are completely missing. I have a rather personal connection to riverbank grape, because one of the species of fungi that I study for my PhD grows exclusively on grape vine in North America. Unfortunately, there's a catch (as there always seems to be with rules regarding where fungi are most likely to be found): it only grows on mature, living or dead grape vine. This means that any suitable habitat that might have been in forest ecosystems in the 1800s when a lot of the work was being done on the fungal flora of North America no longer exists for this species. For this reason, it was collected three times in the 1880s by great, now long-dead, mycologists only to never be recorded ever again. Have these species gone extinct because of our destruction of their host species? No one, including myself, knows that for sure. Since the 1930s there has been a lack of concerted effort to document the diversity of forest species, only re-invigorated in the early 2000s. What I can say is that for the last 6 years whenever I'm in a forest where there's grape vine I look for it...and haven't found it yet. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right spot, or perhaps it doesn't exist anymore. I'll let you know in 20 years when I either find it or give up looking. ;) This idea of "disappearing species" is not unique in mycology; there are also a lot of plant species that were discovered during the times of the Great World Explorers (as I like to call them) that have never been found again. Part of the problem stems from the lack of location data for the collections--how do I know where "Aunt Edna's House, near the south greenhouse but past the wood pile, 5 minutes from the beach" is?! Sure, maybe EVERYONE in 1872 knew where Aunt Edna's house was...but it's long gone by now. You don't realize just how useful GPS coordinates are until you have to figure out something like that!

Anyway, back on topic...

Riverbank grape fruits are reportedly edible, and were also reportedly an important food source in the summer for early settlers in North America. Now, I'm guessing that tastes have progressed a bit since those times, or perhaps they were much less picky eaters than we are now (or maybe a bit of both). Have you ever tried a grape from a wild grape vine? They are TERRIBLE. I wasn't expecting a sweet grape when I tried one, but holy jeez. This was...terrible. That's the only way I can describe it. It was gooey and had the most awful texture on the planet (almost like jello on the inside), plus one of the most sour fruits I've ever had in my life (puts the Cornelian cherry to shame, which you can read all about HERE, and I often eat lemons for fun...so that tells you something about my tolerance for "sour"). My friend Tanya convinced me to try one when we were out geocaching one afternoon, and I could taste the lingering "lip-puckering sour" in my mouth for hours. That's the last time I ever listen to Tanya. Ha.

Sure, the grapes don't taste that great and the plant isn't all that much to look at (although, I personally really love the shape of their leaves and the cute little curving tendrils that are most visible during the winter and early spring), riverbank grape is one of the single most important "novelty agriculture species" that we have in North America. I call them an agricultural novelty not because their use is new, but because the product we get from them is certainly not necessary for everyday life (some people might argue with me on that one; we'll agree to disagree) nor has it ever been. Wild grape vines are VERY tolerant to winter conditions in North America, which can be incredibly harsh, especially in the ground. Traditional wine grape vines, of the species Vitis vinifera, don't have a very cold hardy root system, and are prone to freezing damage in northern climates. For this reason, riverbank grape rootstock is often grafted onto a wine grape scion (or "top") for commercial grape production for the wine industry. Once grapevine producers were experts in the creation of natural hybrids, they started experimenting with different varieties of V. vinifera as well as V. riparia to make more cold-tolerant grape vines, but with the same commercial qualities of traditional wine grapes. Another major benefit is that the resulting hybrid is much more resistant to common fungal diseases encountered on grape vines. Eventually what was obtained were varieties that were genetically 50-80% wine grapes, and 20-50% riverbank grape. Baco Noir, Marchel Foch (sometimes called Marechal Foch) and Frontenac grapes are all hybrids between these two species, and produce some of the best wine in the world. Isn't it amazing what a little traditional plant breeding can do?! Cheers to grapes.

Traditional uses by Aboriginal North Americans are also numerous; they are used as a food (although, I'm guessing in small numbers), to make jellies and jams, and to produce a type of traditional North American wine. From what I understand, this wine is really unpleasant when compared to wine from a "real" winery, but it really packs a punch: it has 2-3 times the alcohol content of a traditional wine. Maybe it's alcoholic enough you don't realize how terrible it is! Not commercially sold, but every so often you might be able to find some courtesy of a backyard brewer. Let me know how it is, if you get a chance to try it.

Mexican White Pines are better than our own White Pines in our own climate?!

Species name: Pinus ayacahuite

Common name: Mexican white pine, ayacahuite

Location: Western University campus

I have my suspicions about this tree, and it has nothing to do with the identification. There are three Mexican white pines all planted in a pretty clump; they are definitely ornamental trees and were planted after the arboretum was established on campus (so, believe it or not, these trees are younger than I am. Boy do they grow fast! Because...I'm not that old, no matter what my students would lead you to believe). They are most definitely Mexican white pines. What I have my suspicions about is their distribution and abundance. They are native to three very, very small pockets in Mexico along parts of the mountain range that runs straight through the middle of Mexico. These three pockets are now independent populations, and at the time of their assessment under the IUCN (the International Union on the Conservation of Nature) the three populations were non-interbreeding. This in itself isn't necessarily a big deal, but it's the rest of it that matters. Mexico is undergoing, like many countries in Latin America, a huge shift from rural rolling landscapes where you won't see a person for miles into a highly urbanized country with extensive urban sprawl. On top of that, all of these "Eco Resorts" are popping up all over the country. And then there's the drug running (there's no point in denying that it exists!). Oh, and on top of all of that the conversion from traditional vegeculture multi-crop agriculture to a more "North American" (I hate that description for it, since Mexico is part of North America) method of monoculture agriculture. These four things in combination amount to a lot of deforestation; doing this in an area that already contains three highly fragmented populations of a species, populations that exist nowhere else, probably means that the "Least Concern" status that this species has according to the IUCN is now incorrect. I would bet that at least one of those three populations no longer exists, and that the status of the species should, at minimum, be category NT or "Near Threatened", if not VU or "Vulnerable." But, as with all biodiversity research, you first need to find an organization that will fund the research to go out and study these populations (which hasn't been done since 1994!). To say this is a "Mexican problem," or even a "Third World problem," would be completely incorrect. Under the current economic climate in Canada, the only species reassessments done for species at risk are for species that grow in economically significant areas (like the Tar Sands in Alberta), or in areas where urbanization is slated to occur (in the case of Environmental Assessments). I like to think that Canada is a pretty "developed" country...!

Not having the funding to do diversity studies and study species distributions isn't something that can be restricted to a specific geographic region. It's something we, as human beings inhabiting the world, need to think about. Where are our future medicines going to come from? Nearly 95% of medicines around the world are plant-based or plant-derived (or once plant-derived but now synthesized in the lab). Many of our most successful early cancer treatments originate from plants (taxol is the first one that jumps to mind, and you can read all about the plant that taxol comes from HERE). Our most widely prescribed (and most would argue, for good reason, over-prescribed) antibiotic comes from a fungus (penicillin from the Penicillium fungus). And where would we be without wine (grapes and an alcohol-fermenting fungus) or tequilla (agave and an alcohol-fermenting fungus)?! It would be a sad case indeed. Anyway, onto happier things, like talking about Mexican white pines... :)

The Mexican white pine is one of the most widely planted pulp trees, from which we derive paper. Nearly every large paper-producing country in the world (except Canada) plants the Mexican white pine as opposed to any other white pine species. This is because it is highly disease-resistant (especially to white pine blister rust, which is an ever-increasing problem in Canada and the United States, attacking all of our native white pine species), highly cold-tolerant (despite being from tropical Mexico, it can withstand temperatures of -30 degrees Celsius!), and highly drought-tolerant. This makes it ideal for planting in hot, dry countries, hot, wet countries, cold, dry countries, and cold, wet countries. Name a country that doesn't fall into one of those categories! I dare you :) Because of their large cones, and soft, feathery needles they are also a highly prized ornamental species. One great thing about this tree that makes it ideal to plant as an ornamental is that it doesn't actually get to be that large. The tallest Mexican white pine on record lives in Germany and is only 20 meters tall. That's not a very big tree for being the biggest ever recorded!

A fibre-filled way to start your day: Eid Mubarak!

Species name: Phoenix dactylifera

Common name: date palm

Location: first 5 images from Dave's Garden user palmbob, last image from Dave's Garden user QCHammy

Date palms are magnificent trees (although, they're not truly trees because they're monocots and can't produce true wood), and not just because of their genus name (seriously? How cool is the genus Phoenix?!). And to be named after a dinosaur (the pterodactyl)? Awesome! OK, so I don't actually know for sure the date palm was named after a giant mythological bird that can be reborn multiple times and a flying dinosaur, but a girl can dream. The date palm was likely first domesticated to be an edible palm species in Iraq (most palm fruit you do not want to eat; many produce pretty potent fruit that would make you very sick very quickly), although a closely-related species was also domesticated in and around Brazil. They are now becoming very popular ornamental species in tropical locations because of a few ideal characteristics: they are long-lived, they are drought tolerant, are highly wind tolerant, and are tolerant of salt spray on their trunks and leaves (even when young).

Dates have been eaten as fruit for thousands of years. There's even evidence of date fruit being left as an offering in ancient Egyptian burial sites and in mummy sarcophaguses (sarcophagi? You get what I mean). No one is quite sure what the symbolism of leaving such fruit represents, as date pits are present with some bodies but not others. There is the suggestion that it might have to do with the time of year the body was buried (more on this later). Date palms are dioecious, meaning they have completely separate male and female plants. In order to have a date palm plantation, one must plant both male and female trees in order to get a crop (the male tree only provides the pollen, the female tree is where the fruit are produced). Unfortunately, the male plants are simply a waste of space in the plantation and so are usually not planted (sorry to all the men out there!), and instead alternate pollination methods are used. In certain areas, date palms are such important crop species that male flowers complete with pollen are often sold in jars in outdoor markets around the time that pollination would be occurring. If you were a date palm farmer, you would buy a jar and sprinkle the pollen in front of a large fan that would blow it across your plantation. I'm sure seeing this in person would be absolutely wild; not to mention it would really wreak havoc on your seasonal allergies if you had them! There are other ways to hand-pollinate female date palm flowers; in Iraq there are highly trained pollination personnel that climb the trunks using only a rope and pollinate the flowers using either a hand-fan or paint brush.

The fruits of these trees are remarkably nutritious, and are one of the best sources of potassium of any edible plant. They also contain a surprisingly high amount of protein, are a good source of dietary fibre,  and a good source of zinc (an element very important in the proper functioning of many of the enzymes and proteins in the body). Aside from eating the whole fruit (which may be eaten stuffed with a variety of yummy things like almonds, cream cheese or a more savoury version with tahini or hummus), there is a beverage called "palm wine" that is produced from the sap of the plant in India. It is fermented using traditional methods dating back thousands of years (even today!), and consumed at special occasions. In Pakistan, there is a syrup-like substance that is harvested from the plants and used to seal leatherwares and to prevent pipes from leaking. The sweet sap of the trees might also be condensed and evaporated to produce palm sugar, also called jaggery.

Date palms also have a significant role in religious symbolism. Christians use the leaves of this tree to make crosses on Palm Sunday, a symbol to represent the palm leaves that were scattered on the ground for Jesus' entry to Jerusalem. But, of course, I wouldn't have chosen to profile this plant today if I wanted to talk about its symbolism to the Christian faith; I would have done that near Easter!

Dates are traditionally the first food eaten at the breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan, a month-long religious fast from sun up to sun down performed by Muslims worldwide, consumed with a drink of water or weak tea. After morning prayers, it is the beginning of Eid al-Fitr (the Sweet Festival), often celebrated with Eid ul-Adar (the Feast of the Sacrifice, traditionally approximately 70 days after the end of Ramadan). The timing of Ramadan changes yearly, but is based on the lunar calendar. The first day of Ramadan is the first day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, and the first day is determined by the sighting of the crescent moon (if the moon is clouded then by default the month starts the following day). During the month of Ramadan no food items (or other pleasurable things in life) are consumed between sun up and sun down. At the end of the month, the breaking of the fast is celebrated with a big feast and the day of Eid al-Fitr. You would go around wishing your neighbours Eid Mubarak, which (roughly translated) means "Happy Ramadan." Guess what today is? Eid al-Fitr! :)

Eid Mubarak, Happy Ramadan, to all of my Muslim readers!

The birch with non-acuminate leaves

Species name: Betula pendula

Common name: Weeping birch, silver birch

Location: Ontario

The weeping birch, usually having typical birch-shaped leaves ("acuminate" shaped leaves), is a common species in Europe and Asia throughout its native range and is often called the silver birch because of the bright white or silverish bark of the trunk of the tree. This particular tree is a certain type of weeping birch called the "cutleaf weeping birch", named after its very pronounced toothy leaves. There was once the suggestion that they should be different species because they are so morphologically different (the only real thing they have in common is the general shape of the tree; if that was all that was needed to determine species we would only have about 6 species of trees!), but this idea has been abandoned now that we know how genetically similar they are. There isn't enough variation in the barcoding regions of their genomes to allow for a separate species designation.

The first thing that many Canadians think of (if you're born before 1990 and/or was a member of boy scouts or girl scouts) when they hear "silver birch" is the camp song called "Land of the Silver Birch." To this day, I can still remember every single word! Unfortunately, that song has nothing to do with this tree. The song actually refers to the paper birch, the one from which birch bark canoes are made (which you can read all about HERE).

There are very few modern uses of the silver birch, although historical use of this tree was wide reaching. Currently it is used to make the poles for horse jumps since the wood is heavy enough to stay in place, but not too heavy to injure the horse if it hits the jump. They are also commonly used in the making of wooden utensils because of the attractive grain of the wood and the fact that it doesn't give off a flavour in the food like maple or oak wood would. In Europe the silver birch is popular in the pulp and paper industry, but in Canada we use other species primarily for this purpose. Historically, wine was produced from the sap of the tree, and that same sap could be condensed down and used as a type of glue. The bark was also popular for tanning leathers, especially when a light colour was desired (other barks or plant products were used if a dark colour was desired).

The Cornus Conundrum

Species name: Cornus capitata

Common name: Himalayan dogwood

Location: Ontario

Despite this looking a whole lot like the Japanese Dogwood in a previous blog post (also called the Chinese dogwood; read all about it HERE), I believe very strongly that this is a different species; at least, that this individual tree would be classified as a different species according to currently recognized species. Whether or not a DNA analysis would confirm or deny that these are, in fact, two separate species is probably up for debate. I think the key here lies in the fruit and in the leaves.

The fruit of the Japanese dogwood is quite dense. Once you get through the tough outer rind there is a a sweet flesh on the inside, but not much of it because the seeds are quite large in comparison to the size of the fruit. In the Himalayan dogwood (native to, you guessed it, the Himalayas where it is not overly common), the fruit is much larger, much juicier, but also much less sweet. This series of photographs is actually of my neighbour's tree (I'm glad they don't question me sneaking around the front of their property, taking pictures of their plants!), and I'll be the first to admit that I tried one of the fruits. It was bad. Really bad. The Wikipedia page of the Himalayan dogwood doesn't say anything about the fruit being tasty (it does say edible but bitter, which would be spot-on based on my experience; read the entire paragraph worth of information about it HERE), but I figured at the time it was worth a shot. I don't recommend it.

The leaves of the Japanese dogwood have rather non-descript borders, exactly as you would imagine from a dogwood. Smooth leaves on the top and the bottom, a prominent primary vein down the centre of the leaf with equally prominent secondary veins coming off of that running almost to the leaf edge, and very few easily visible tertiary veins. The Himalayan dogwood is quite similar, except that the leaf edge is a much lighter colour than the rest of the leaf and almost provides a border around the outside. When felt, the leaves of the Himalayan dogwood are also much hairier than the Japanese dogwood (which have very glossy, green leaves).

The Himalayan dogwood, whether on purpose or by accident, is gaining popularity as an ornamental plant in North America. It is much more cold-tolerant than its Japanese relative so is more favourable for slightly more northern climates. Don't expect it to survive in Alaska, however; it's not quite that cold-tolerant! The fruit of the Himalayan dogwood are also much showier than the Japanese dogwood, providing a spectacular show in the fall, and have very similar showy inflorescences in the spring. Because the fruit is so much more bitter, it doesn't have the sugar content required to be of great use in the winemaking industry (like in which the Japanese dogwood is sometimes used) and for the same reason is much less edible. The flip side of this is that it is much less appealing to herbivores and so the fruit remain on the tree until they rot (and provide an equally spectacular odor; picture the smell of fermenting, rotting apples in an orchard on warm days in the fall...). There are some species of insect that will consume the fruit, but these are relatively few.

The Witch Hazel from which we get witch hazel

Species name: Hamamelis virginiana

Common name: Witch hazel

Location: Ontario

The witch hazel shrub was one of the very first woody plants that I learned how to identify in second year in an ecology course. I'm not sure why, of all "uncommon" plant species I managed to retain that one, but there it is. I use "uncommon" relatively; I knew, along with everyone else in the class, what a maple tree was, the difference between white and red oak, etc. This plant was one of the first I learned about that wasn't commonly spoken about by gardeners in my area. It could be because of it's characteristic relatively round leaves, and the uneven leaf base. I learned later that an uneven leaf base with nothing else to go on is actually incredibly common in the plant kingdom, and is a terrible single characteristic on which to base an identification! Witch hazel is a native plant across much of Canada (and North America in general), but has been naturalized in many parts of Europe and Australia. In the genus Hamamelis there are also a few species native to Asia in parts of China and Japan.

The uses of this shrub are many. The most famous use by far is as the main ingredient for the astrigent "witch hazel", which is obviously made from this plant. The leaves and young twigs are boiled down to extract the chemicals unique to the plant called hamamelitannins, which are chemically related to tannins found in oak galls (read about them HERE), walnut husks (read about them HERE), and in red wine. They have quite potent medicinal value, and have been used for centuries against swelling, superficial injuries, inflammation, and tumour suppression. It is also a very effective treatment for acne and other facial blemishes, and is a popular over-the-counter medication. It is also used to treat psoriasis, eczema, ingrown toenails, skin burns, poison ivy rashes, varicose veins and hemorrhoids. Whew!

Earlier this year the evidence that witch hazel extract is useful for tumour growth suppression was validated by a study jointly performed in Spain and the United States. They found that when the hamamelitannin extract was applied on colon cancer cells, it caused programmed cell death (an incredibly unusual phenomenon in cancer cells). When applied to a mixture of cancer cells and normal colon cells, only the cancerous cells were killed where the healthy ones survived. This is a very promising result, suggesting that this might one day be an incredibly effective treatment and cure for colon cancer. Clinical trials still need to be done on in vivo animal tissues, so there is still a very long time to wait for this to make it to the market, providing it is effective in the body and can be easily and practically administered.

Trees make good wine!

Species name: Tilia cordata

Common name: Littleleaf linden, small-leaved lime

Location: Ontario

While this species of tree is incredibly common in Ontario (and much of the rest of Canada and the United States), it is not a native species. It is originally from Europe and Asia, but has existed as an ornamental and lumber tree in North America for over a century. This species of tree is well on its way to being considered "naturalized" in North America, which means it's a non-native species but it has been here long enough that a separate genetic pool exists in the North American population, the tree population is well established, is replacing itself through generations, and does not out-compete other native species for resources. These aren't the "rules" for determining if a species has been naturalized or not, but they can be considered general guidelines.

Linden trees, while very popular ornamental species due to their multi-coloured foliage during the spring, actually were more popular in Europe to grow as a medicinal tree than a purely ornamental tree. The lime green "leaves" that the flowers are attached to are called bracts, and act as protection to the flower during early development. The flowers themselves are picked and steeped in hot water to make a medicinal tea which people in many European and South American countries claim to have anti-inflammatory benefits and is used to treat colds, flu, sore throat, bronchitis and fever. Argentinians recently have taken this to a whole new level, infusing fermenting grape juice with Tilia flowers during the winemaking process to give the wine a flowery, light taste. I doubt the wine has any medicinal qualities to it, but it sure is good! The Tilia Torrontes is by far the best wine I've ever had. If you're interesting in trying a new wine (they also have a Tilia Merlot, Chardonnay, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Bonarda, and various combinations of the above), you can find the TILIA Wines website HERE.

The littleleaf linden is the national tree of Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, of huge cultural importance in Sarajevo (the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina), a protected species in Ukraine and the all countries that are part of the former Yugoslavia, and considered a species at risk in Great Britain (it is considered an indicator species of an ancient woodland, which are becoming more and more rare in Britain with forest clearcutting to make way for agriculture and urban expansion).